Telephone-line contact apparatus.



No. 733.782. PATENTBD JULY 14, 1903. RT. 1,. WERNER & W. H. SILVEY.lTELEPHONE LINE CONTACT APPARATUS.

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APP'LIOATION FILED FE WMM UNITED STATES atented July 14, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH P. WERNER, OF OLIFTONFORGE, AND WILLIAM H. SILVEY, OF

` LOWMOOR, VIRGINIA.

TELEPHONE-LINE CONTACT APPARATUs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,782, dated'July 14,1903-. Application iiled February 21, 1903. SerialNo. 144,381. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOSEPH P. WERNER, residing at Cliftonforge, andWILLIAM H. SILVEY, residing at Lowmoor, in the county of Alleghany andState of Virginia, citizens of the United States, have invented certainnew and usefl Improvements in Telephone-Line Contact Apparatus; and wedo declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to vmake and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specication.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in-an interstationcontact apparatus for connection with a telephone-wire adapted to affordmeans for connecting up with a telephone-wire at any location along theline and telephoning to the station.

More specifically, the invention comprises a metallic contact-clampmounted upon a pole and having electrical connection with a telephoneinstrument, while the metallic clamping members are adapted to contactwith and receive the current from the telephone-line.

Our invention is clearly illustrated in the Y accompanying drawings,which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of thisapplication, and in which drawings similar letters of reference indicatelike parts in the views, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of ourimproved contact apparatus as connected to a telephone-wire. Fig. 2 isan enlarged detail View,

partially in section, showin g the detailed con' struction of thecontact member; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. l.

Reference now being had tothe details of the drawings by letters, Adesignates a pole which may be of sufficient llength to reach from theground to a telephone wire, and mounted upon one end of said pole is alnetallic plate B, the upper end of which is bent, as shown in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings, to form a hook C, adapted to engage over a telephonewireD. A clamping-bar E is fastened to the pole by means of :the bolts F,which pass through the plates B and E, as shown in the drawings, and asuitable insulation Q is interposed between the plates and the pole andthe screws. Mounted in the bent end of the plate C is a bar C', and thefree end of the flexible bar E is grooved, as at K, and adapted tobeguided in its movements by said rod. Said bar also serves to preventthe telephoneline wire D from passing over the free end of the flexiblebar when the latter is drawn lat*- erally as the hooked plate is pulleddown over the wire. Au electric wire H is fastened on one of the poles Nand is covered with a suitable insulation 4H and is adapted to beconnected with the instrument M, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In operation when it is desired to make connection with a telephone-linebetween stations the operator takes the pole and hooks the contactplateover the wire, as shown in Fig. 2, and asthe hook is pulled down overthe wire the bar E or flexible tongue yields,

being of a iieXible material, and securely clamps the wire betweenvthefree end of said bar and the hooked portion C of the plate B, thushaving an electrical contact with the telephone-line, and by reason4 ofthe metallic connections between said bar and plate and with the wire` Hcommunication may be had from the instrument throughA the wires to theline and with the instruments at the various stations.

While we have shown in the drawings a telephone receiver and transmitterapplied to the pole, it will be understood that if desired theinstrument may be placed at any suitable location upon a car or otherplace from which it may have electrical connections with the metallicclampingplates mounted upon the pole. It will be obvious also that wemay-make various alterations in the detailed construction ofthe devicewithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- 1. Aninterstation-telephone-line contact portion cooperating with the freeend of the other plate to guide a conductor-wire into the space betweenthe iiexible plateand the downwardly-bent free end of the adjacentplate, the end of the iexible plate being grooved to receive saidguide-bar, as shown and described. f

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

JOSEPH P. WERNER. WILLIAM I-I. SILVEY. Witnesses:

W. W. PENDLETON, W. C. MOODY.

